News

Dave Villwock made history Sunday by becoming the Air National Guard Hydroplane Series’ all-time winningest driver with a victory at the Gold Cup—breaking a legendary record that has stood for more than three decades. Villwock overcame some early adversity on the weekend to speed past the legendary Bill Muncey to notch his 63rd career race victory. Muncey, who died in 1981, had 62 career race victories. “I still think I’m in a great club, I guess you could call it the Rushmore of boat racing,” Villwock ...

Dave Hemmingson, the former Eliminator Boats rigger who catapulted his own line of go-fast boats to the top of the West Coast performance market, has begun searching for a buyer for his El Cajon, CA-based company, Performance Boats has learned.Hemmingson, 49, cited health concerns as the chief reason for wanting to cease being involved with the company's day-to-day operations, although he said he would consider remaining behind the scenes in some capacity.Growing up in the San Diego area, Dave worked ...

Eight months ago, the Lake Havasu Marine Association initiated Designated Operator, a grass-roots boating safety campaign to encourage voluntarily sobriety on the part of recreational boat operators. Today, another facet for safer boating on one of the Southwest's most popular recreational boating waterways has been added to the local agenda: Designated Captain."This is an entirely new and separate program." remarked Jim Salscheider, executive director of the Lake Havasu Marine Association. "Designated ...

Miss Geico shot to victory at the Sunny Isles Beach Offshore Challenge, held June 19 in Sunny Isles, FL, edging out competitors Cintron and Lamborghini Miami.

Driven by Marc Granet of Boca Raton and throttled by Scott Begovich of Jupiter, FL, Miss Geico won the Extreme class in Sunday’s season opener of the Amsoil Offshore Powerboat Series. The boat's two 1,860-horsepower turbine motors got a run for their money by Cintron until the last dozen laps.

Meanwhile, in the three-boat Cat Lite class, Bob Teague drove Team Amsoil (with throttleman Paul Whittier) to victory. Their win came two days after Teague and son John were victorious in the Miami-Bimini challenge in one hour and seven minutes.


OFFICIAL RESULTS ...

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BY CHRIS DAVIDSON

Recently I met with Cutting Edge Propellers owner Greg Hittner. He and I attempted to get lunch at a favorite restaurant located at the 405 Freeway and Jamboree. However, we were either too far south or too far north—the only eateries in sight were a packed café and an empty Dim Sum restaurant.

We opted for the Dim Sum. While the meal didn't exactly fit the bill, the conversation was immensely satisfying. I brought Greg up to speed on how I transitioned from working at a detail shop in the 1980s to my days at Hot Boat and now Performance ...

BY CHRIS DAVIDSON

Several weeks ago, the crew at Performance Boats made a trip to Lucas Oil’s facilities in Corona, CA. Our visit served as the basis of an in-depth article about their innovative oils and fuel additives in our July 2011 print edition, as well as this online version. During our visit, we were invited to return to Corona for the 17th Annual Lucas Oil BBQ, held on June 11.







We arrived at the Lucas facilities at 1:30 p.m with the festivities just starting. Live music filled their nearly 100-year-old building, which served as the original facility for Sunkist Oranges; the property is now fully transformed into a racer's haven.







At the BBQ, we were delighted to cross paths ...

BY CHRIS DAVIDSON

Last week, my son Blake and I blasted down to Havasu to meet with Tim McDonald, owner of OCM (Oregon Custom Marine) and his family before Memorial Weekend. His new location is prime—directly across from Windsor Beach at the corner of Lake Havasu and Industrial Boulevards. It’s the old/new Campbell Boats building that former LHC mayor and Campbell boats owner, Bob Whalen designed several years ago before his untimely passing.

The new facilities have everything—muscleboats, service, parts, and they're open on the weekends. Tim has opened the new facilities to carry a line of pontoon boats, a ski boat line, and Frisini Motorsports' latest ...

According to initial reports from multiple law enforcement agencies that patrol the waters of Lake Havasu, the grass-roots, privately funded Designated Operator safety campaign is making inroads and a difference with recreational boaters.During the traditionally busy Memorial Day weekend, Sgt. Jerry Burns of the Lake Havasu City Police was quoted in a local newspaper article, saying, "We've seen a lot of Designated (boat) Operators on the water." Burns also added that he attributed a portion of ...

While making my rounds last week, I stopped by to check up on Eliminator Boats' Bob Leach and his latest Speedster project, which one of our members has been posting bulletins about in our forums.



I met the owner of the boat, who seemed extremely enthusiastic about the new project. He told me he was going to be installing a 900-hp Boostpower engine with an Arneson Surface Drive. Can't wait to take a ride in this baby!



While in the showroom, I noticed the Performance Boat Candy display, which includes their entire line of cleaning and waxing products. ...

Hustler Powerboats of Calverton, NY, has announced the completion of its first stage of prototype testing of the 39 Diesel Rockit.

Equipped with prototype Cummins MerCruiser Diesel 6.7, the Diesel Rockit hit 84 miles per hour. The motors, which were rated between 460 to 480 horsepower, will be taken out of the boat and be replaced with the new CMD 6.7 liter motors that are rated between 500 to 550 horsepower.

“We are very pleased with how the first version of the Diesel Rockit ran,” said Joe LoGiudice, President of Hustler Powerboats. ...

One of the few noteworthy occurrences at the Fred Hall Show in March was seeing an old friend, Chad Hill (above). Chad has reestablished himself in Santa Ana with a new line of props called Signature Propellers. He invited me to stop by the following day at closing as they were about to pour their Stainless Steel castings.





When I got there, he walked me through the process and showed me the various components involved. The 10 lb. 15/5 stainless steel ingots (15% Chromium, 5% Nickel and 80% steel) were stacked ready to be melted in the 2,400 degree crucible which was preheated in the oven.

It was fascinating ...

BY CHRIS DAVIDSON

Shortly after setting up our booth at Desert Storm's massive Street Parade, we relocated to an area behind the registration building at the Nautical Inn dubbed Poker Run Village. It was there that we encountered the extraordinary tow vehicle parked adjacent to us.

Created by Ultimate Custom Coach of Riverside, CA, it's the Ultimate Hauler FXII. Built from an M2106 Freightliner and featuring an Allison trans and 330-horse Cummins motor, it comes with a Gross Vehicle Weight rating (GVWR) of 28,000 lbs.





The outside of the vehicle may look like just another Sport Chassis rig, but looks can be deceiving. Describing this machine as "fully loaded" is a bit of an understatement—it's got dual A/C climate-control ...

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